Pa. LCB Giving Wine Kiosks Another Chance

HARRISBURG (CBS) – After a shutdown of its 29 wine kiosks just before Christmas, the Liquor Control Board plans to put six of the kiosks back on line next week to see if problems have been worked out.

The wine kiosks were abruptly unplugged because of problems that included the failure to dispense the product customers had purchased. Now, Liquor Control Board spokeswoman Stacy Kriedeman says six of the 29 kiosks — the locations of which have not yet been finalized — will be switched back on next week.

“We will reopen the six kiosks early next week,” she said. “We will see how they perform for a week. If they perform well, we will start the process of reopening the additional 23 kiosks.”

Ultimately, the LCB plans to launch about 100 wine kiosks in supermarkets across the state. And notwithstanding pending legislation that could throw the future of the agency and the kiosks into doubt, Kriedeman says the plan is to move ahead with deploying the kiosks if the bugs have been worked out.